The court sided with Miftakhov

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The Labytnangsky City Court of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug upheld the complaint of political prisoner mathematician Azat Miftakhov. Previously, the investigator refused to provide him with state protection measures after suffering torture in IK-18 in Kharp.

The defense of the political prisoner demanded to ensure the safety of Miftakhov after torture in IK-18 “Polar Wolf” in the village of Kharp - now he is there in a cell-type room (PKT).

During the court hearing, Miftakhov said that security forces and the colony administration put pressure on him. An employee of the Federal Penitentiary Service came to his cell and demanded that he sign a statement stating that now there was supposedly no threat to him from the colony staff, and that he was “well fed and clothed.”

A day later, operative Pavel Kiselev, who participated in the torture, came to him. He also tried to get Azat to state that there were no threats.

“April 21 was the most terrible day of my life. That day I realized that I could die. Die right now. And I could not turn to anyone, because I was in the hands of those who tortured me. And when I was able to contact a lawyer, when the investigation began, I began to feel calmer. However, a week ago I learned that my application for torture was rejected. I felt anxious. What do employees think? That you can torture without leaving traces. I saw what can be expected from them then on April 21,” Miftakhov said at the meeting.

In addition, the administration of IK-18 did not allow Miftakhov’s defense to work normally. The security forces forbade the lawyer to independently submit and submit an application for state protection. So, he was forced to submit a document through a special part of the institution, where all correspondence is inspected and censored - this violates attorney-client privilege.

What will happen next with Azat’s case - commentary by his wife Elena Gorban

The Replica publication spoke with Azat Miftakhov’s wife Elena Gorban about the court’s decision, which sided with the political prisoner. She said the court's decision was not "landmark." Now the investigator will simply re-do his work, following the procedures that were previously violated.

Gorban notes that this precedent shows that the court is not doing its job fully:

“Of course, we will appeal the refusal to initiate a criminal case and insist that this investigator did not carry out all the necessary checks in full. These are small additional decisions that can be referred to: not only do we think that the investigator did a poor job, but he didn’t check everything properly in the defense and didn’t respond to the petition. If we rely on this and win, another argument will appear.”

Answering the question about what the defense will do next, Gorban says that a meeting should take place on June 26 at which an appeal against the refusal to initiate a criminal case will be discussed:

“This is a more important trial. I don’t know if we can do it in one meeting. In general, we will seek a re-inspection. But before moving on to Azat, I’ll tell you about other areas of work. On Thursday, for example, there will be a trial regarding my refusal to enter the colony. I think there are very good chances there, because the trial will be in April. And in May, both the supervisory prosecutor and the Federal Penitentiary Service admitted that the colony had messed up when they didn’t let me in. So, I think that with admission we will also have successful trials, and in the future my attempts to pass will be successful.”

At the same time, there is also a judicial direction and the defense is waiting for the FSIN to refuse the mother’s application with a request to transfer Azat to another colony in order to continue to litigate on this topic and seek a transfer.

In general, according to Gorban, Miftakhov’s condition remains normal, but there are violations that the political prisoner underestimates, but they can nevertheless be considered as pressure. For example, in his personal time, Azat is forced to write complaints instead of writing letters, he has to write a complaint - he is not given special time for this.

• via the Solidarité FreeAzat form for transfers in euros;
• transfer to PayPal: [email protected] marked “for Azat”;
• transfer to a Sberbank card: 5469 3800 5929 3380 (Elena Anatolyevna Gorban), indicating the purpose of the transfer “donation”.

Context

Azat Miftakhov is a mathematician, graduate student at Moscow State University and an anarchist. He was first arrested in 2019. In January 2021, the court sentenced Miftakhov to six years in prison in the case of a broken window of the United Russia office in Moscow and a thrown smoke bomb. He himself did not admit guilt.

After his release in September 2023, Miftakhov was immediately re-detained. He was later sentenced to four years in prison for “justifying terrorism.” According to investigators, the reason was a conversation about an explosion in the Arkhangelsk FSB department.

At the end of April 2026, Miftakhov was transferred to IK-18 “Polar Owl” in the village of Kharp, one of the most closed and strict colonies in Russia. Already on May 4, The Insider published a political prisoner’s story about torture in the colony. According to Miftakhov, FSIN officers shocked him, beat him, hit him on the heels with a wooden hammer, and threatened him with sexualized violence.

The Insider and DOXA identified the FSIN employees whom Miftakhov considers involved in torture. We are talking about Mikhail Sobolev from Tyumen and Pavel Kiselev, who previously worked in several institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Sverdlovsk region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region.

Miftakhov himself also said that pressure was put on him before. After his arrest in 2019, FSB officers, according to him, used intimate photographs in an attempt to achieve his transfer to the caste of the “offended” “Roosters”, “low-down”, prisoners “with a reduced social status” (the term of the Federal Penitentiary Service) are the most powerless caste of prisoners in the informal prison hierarchy. It includes bi- and gay people, as well as those who have been subjected to sexualized violence. In addition, to be included in the “offended” caste, it may be enough information that the prisoner did cunnilingus, that is, indirect contact with the penis. Those who fall into this caste are usually kept separately from other prisoners. They are given more “dirty” and hard work .